Plans for Assembling Ford Vehicles in Israel Reported Advancing

The Palestine Automobile Corporation, Ford Motor Company dealer in Israel, disclosed today it was proceeding with plans announced last month for Israeli assembly of Ford vehicles.

At the same time, it was indicated that the Ministries of Commerce and Transport believe that the assembly operations should be carried out in one of the existing plants in Israel to avoid setting up still another factory in Israel, particularly in view of the current slump of automobile sales. Existing assembly facilities in Israel are all underutilized.

Directors of the Palestine Automobile Corporation declined to say with what assembly firm they were negotiating. They also said it was too early to forecast which Ford vehicles would be produced in Israel and in what numbers. However, they added, technically there would be no difficulty in producing large or compact passenger cars, like the Anglie, Cortina and Taunus, delivery cars and tractors.